Motion spaces and self-morphing algorithm of self-reconfigurable modular robot

A novel, homogenous, self-reconfigurable modular robot system is designed, which consists of one center cube and six rotary sides. According to the motion features of each module and the constraints of chessboard rules, such as the Oxy plane, there are four kinds of states. Then, the possible motion space is studied and concluded. A distance function of the present configuration center and the goal configuration center is used as the heuristic information which can drive the modules to move. According to the possible motion spaces of each module, the automatic matching method of modules' motion spaces and target structure spaces is applied to realize the self-morphing process of the self-reconfigurable modular robots step by step. In order to finish the self-morphing task quickly, the preferential motion coefficient is defined, the filling rules of modules are given. Then, the algorithm is optimized. Finally, a simulation with sixteen modules of the self-reconfigurable robot is shown to prove the feasibility of the said method.